[ 2006-September-04 15:21 ]

This book discusses when you might want to redesign existing code, what benefits this can provide, and how to do it. I found the HOWTO section quite boring. It can be summed up as "copy the code around a bit, and then fix all the compile and unit test errors." However, the few "big picture" chapters that focused on good design and how to get there were interesting. Interestingly, Fowler states that you should not refactor without good tests. This make sense, since you will probably break something, but what do you do when there are no tests? I have some ideas, but Fowler doesn't present any. I think this book was okay, but not great.